Our Story

BUKU Namibia team-member presenting at a Namibia university

BUKU team Namibia presenting to students

2010

How it all started. When our founder started his studies, he got introduced to the unpleasant surprise all students encounter: the costs of buying books. Why is it that there is no subscription-based platform offering study books making the necessary materials affordable and easy to use?

2015

The idea became BUKU. In 2015 we presented our concept to publishers, started with the development, technical support and our first business angel Vincent van Wieren got on board.

2016

Things are getting real. The idea that started in 2010 came to life… We began to build the platform, appointed Bertus Jan as CEO and started our pilot at one of the biggest universities of The Netherlands, Hanze University of Applied Sciences.

2017

There is a first for everything. Milestone! The first pilot had been a great success, an institute of Hanze University, the Johan Cruijff Academy implemented BUKU into their program and we publicly launched BUKU in The Netherlands.

2018

Let’s go international. The FHR School of Business in Surinam was the first international country that started using BUKU, becoming the proof of concept which led to more joining publishers and expanding the online library.

2019

And the winner is… NOVI University of ICT started using BUKU, more publishers joined, and we received the audience award for the Innovation Top 100 Price by the national Chamber of Commerce.

2020

Good vibes. A busy year and we loved it: TIO University and Schoevers Educations started using BUKU, the closing an important round of investments, we launched in Aruba and Curacao, expanded in Surinam, and had our first users in Malawi: UNIMA College of Medicine.

2021

Sky is the limit. We started to develop BUKU for secondary education, are orienting to work together with NGO’s, are expanding in The Netherlands, launched in the Pacific Islands, and the North Coast Medical Training College of Kenya started using BUKU.

The people behind BUKU

The Team. We are working with a motivated and enthusiastic group of people from different backgrounds, which creates a surprising dynamic. We are flexible in how and where we work, make room for pleasure and always try to bring out the best in each other. Through close collaboration within our team, we ensure that technology and sales complement each other and are able to achieve great improvements in process and product on a daily basis.

Culture. We define success by the people we work with: understanding each other and responding with a positive attitude. Not just within our team, but also with students, teachers, publishers and educational institutions. We believe in what we do and stand for the old saying 'rising tides lift all boats'. It fits perfectly with the way we treat each other, and how we view our relationships with partners at home and abroad. Every day we try to get better - for our users, for our partners and for ourselves.

We want to create impact in the world by making textbooks accessible to everyone.

Opening a world of knowledge and opportunities to everyone.

How it all started. When our founder started his studies, he got introduced to the unpleasant surprise all students encounter: the costs of buying books. Why is it that there is no subscription-based platform offering study books making the necessary materials affordable and easy to use?

The idea became BUKU. In 2015 we presented our concept to publishers, started with the development, technical support and our first business angel Vincent van Wieren got on board.

Things are getting real. The idea that started in 2010 came to life… We began to build the platform, appointed Bertus Jan as CEO and started our pilot at one of the biggest universities of The Netherlands, Hanze University of Applied Sciences.

There is a first for everything. Milestone! The first pilot had been a great success, an institute of Hanze University, the Johan Cruijff Academy implemented BUKU into their program and we publicly launched BUKU in The Netherlands.

Let’s go international. The FHR School of Business in Surinam was the first international country that started using BUKU, becoming the proof of concept which led to more joining publishers and expanding the online library.

And the winner is… NOVI University of ICT started using BUKU, more publishers joined, and we received the audience award for the Innovation Top 100 Price by the national Chamber of Commerce.

Good vibes. A busy year and we loved it: TIO University and Schoevers Educations started using BUKU, the closing an important round of investments, we launched in Aruba and Curacao, expanded in Surinam, and had our first users in Malawi: UNIMA College of Medicine.

Sky is the limit. We started to develop BUKU for secondary education, are orienting to work together with NGO’s, are expanding in The Netherlands, launched in the Pacific Islands, and the North Coast Medical Training College of Kenya started using BUKU.

The people behind BUKU

Meet our Advisory Board

Marius van Huijstee

Frits Kok

Douwe Jan Boersma

Martijn Kruisman

Will you join our team?